Sorry, there's already a thread about abscesses, but I can't reply to it b/c I'm too young so I'm just going to post a new thread.
My friend's horses get abscesses all the time. Almost every horse owner I know has had a horse with an abscess in the past.
Our horses have never gotten abscesses... At least not that I know of. I'm definitely not complaining, I'm just really curious as to why and how horses get them?
anybody know?
Thanks in advance :)

Skyseternalangel

06-12-2012 08:33 PM

Welcome to the forum :)

I'm curious too, but I do know that when the horse's soles are thin, they are more prone to bruising.. and my horse had an abscess right after he began to bruise (I wasn't in the same country at the time :( ugh)

If may be kind of like a blister/infection, but I'm guessing now so we can wait for better answers..

GreyRay

06-12-2012 09:08 PM

An abcsess is a collection of dead cells from trama to the hoof(rough ground, bruising ect) that form into a pimple like bubble that exits the hoof via easiest rout possible, could be the frog or sole or where ever. They can also be caused by foreign material entering the hoof, example, a gravel in the white line, a puncture wound ect. Thats the simplest way I can think to explain it =)Posted via Mobile Device

HollyBubbles

06-13-2012 06:04 AM

Well, my tb gelding popped 3 last winter, (first winter with him) and my tb mare who I had for 3 years before she passed away, never had an abscess ever, and they lived on the same ground, did the same work, same farrier etc.

I have been told my boy has very good hooves for a tb, but from what I have gathered during his 3 consecutive abscesses, the first was after a stone bruise after his hooves were trimmed a little too enthusiastically (not my farrier!!) the second was in the other front hoof, and we think it may have been the wet conditions he was in making his hooves soft, and of course, with soft hooves comes easier penetrations from foreign objects, which then causes an infection at the site of penetration (which usually closes up after penetration, leaving the foreign object in there). That, in turn, means that the antibodies are going "nooo get it out of here", and the infection is the bodies way of trying to get rid of the object(eg stone/stick etc).
They take the path of least resistance, which seems to be the coronet band, so in my experience, an abscess left untreated will eventually burst through the coronet band. Though sometimes they can burst through the sole.

The next problem was that because his hooves had been wrapped and poulticed, when it came to leaving them unwrapped, his hooves were soft still, from poultice etc, so he developed yet another abscess.

With this horse, it significantly improved his hoof health to have him standing in a dry concreted yard for some of the day, or walking him up the road, to give his hooves a chance to dry out and be harder again. He didn't develop another one after we did that. (so far! Winters just arrived again)
-However, I am no professional and definately don't claim to be!! Remember that :lol: